rebel rebel

completely absorbed in what i was doing at the cafe today, a lady tapped me on the arm and said, "excuse me, i promise i'm not crazy ..." she hesitated, but i laughed and said, "oh i'm not worried, go ahead!" (i love talking to strangers!) so she continued, "well, i just had to come over and say that this is absolutely beautiful. to see a book that is this used and wornout, and for someone your age it's even more amazing. do you mind if i ask what book it is?" i could hardly believe this conversation was happening, it made me that happy, and i smiled and said, "oh it's my bible!" the smile fell off her face and she seemed really taken aback.

the look on her face when she heard "bible" gave me an instant flashback to a mutual friend's 21st birthday party. his dad was talking to my friend and i, asking where we'd been beforehand. as soon as i said, "church" his entire expression changed and it was like i dropped an eff bomb in a room full of kindergarteners because everyone at the table stopped drinking for a minute (that's a long time at these things) out of shock. when he finally regrouped he stammered 'no that's great, i just didn't expect you to say that.' (granted, it was a saturday night, but those who know me well know that i'll go to church anytime at all.) he was so befuddled that he started spilling his half-drunk-dad-guts to some girl he just met - a girl who had been ready to leave the minute she walked in, up until that conversation. (which ended up evolving into which catholic mass he prefers, not me leading the bar in a mass conversion where everyone ended up getting drunk in the Holy Spirit like i was envisioning ... but i'm sure the Lord was still at work somehow, haha.)

should i be sad that a love for the bible elicits such shock? i don't understand the fear it brings out in people. like the way my lit professor clammed up the day we all had to say our favorite work of literature and i said the bible. she acted like i'd committed a major faux pax and quickly moved onto the next person to rave when they said "grapes of wrath." but as much as i didn't like her reaction i wasn't about to give an answer just because i knew she'd like it. i really really like the bible. there is no way any piece of literature could ever outshine the Bible. there is no other book with an author who lives and wants to interact with us as we read it.

flashforward to the cafe again. a few minutes later, a different lady leans over my table and says, "working huh?" "excuse me?" "you're stuffing envelopes - is it for work?" "ohhhh!" i started laughing, "no, i'm just writing to people." "what?! no way! shut up! i didn't think people did that anymore!" more laughing on my end, "i know right? but i do."

i loved both cafe conversations for a lot of reasons, but especially because i love being a rebel. how am i being a rebel by being a dork reading and writing and spending time with God, you ask? i'd never thought of it as rebellion either, till i heard mark driscoll preach it that way. people call the whole sex-drugs-rock&roll scene rebellion, when in reality that's all been done before. sin is old news. the only true rebellion left for us today is to read our Bibles and follow Jesus! for me to get wasted at someone's 21st party wouldn't have been rebellion, and anyone who's taken a stand for Jesus knows it's a lot harder than following the crowd. for me to find joy in reading the Bible - that's gonna cause the kind of stir a rebel should.

and as for writing notes, that really has nothing to do with being rebellious. that's just me being a dork and loving it all the way.